400 Blog Follower Giveaway

I finally reached 400 followers! YYIIPPEEEE!!!!!! So to celebrate let's have a little blog giveaway as promised.

In this giveaway you will receive a braided mat, Keeper of the Light Vanilla Pound Cake candle, a wax dipped short battery powered candle, a treenware repro ladle, and last but not least Friends Gather Here mini sign.



Alright, now all you have to do is leave a comment on this post only. You will only get one entry into this Giveaway. You have until midnight September 5th Labor Day to enter. I will pick the winner Tuesday September 6th. Please leave an email address if you don't have a blog so that I can get a hold of you if you win.

My Craft Day

As I told you yesterday I would be crafting all day. Well, I had a few errands to run this morning so I didn't get started until 11:30. First, let me say I have never claimed to be the sharpest crayon in box, or the elevator doesn't go quit to the top floor, or insert your favorite one here..... lol. I decided to start my daughters quilt she has been asking for. I know I need to get crackalackin on my stitchery designs BUT I have no working printer to print out my graph paper AND the one at work needs a new printer cartridge too. So I have not been able to do any charting only stitching on a pattern I bought at the thrift store. How did I digress already? OK back to the quilt and not being the sharpest tool in the shed... I read the directions for the quilt or so I thought. I got my rotary cutter, mat, and fabric all out and started cutting my 1 3/4" strips. So far so good. Well, somewhere up in my cobweb infested mind I thought I only needed 40 blocks. The directions said 40 sets of dark fabrics 1 3/4" X 27" You would have thought somewhere along the way the light would've gone off. I'm here to say it did not. I cut my strips and stitched them together in sets of five. I was thinking man this is too easy.... until the directions said to cut each of the units into 6 3/4" segments. I got out my trusty ruler and proceeded to cut the segments. Still the light did not go on I was doing something wrong. After I got my first set all cut I looked at it and something didn't seem right. I remeasured and sure enough my seams are off. Grrrrr... the seam was to be 1/4" and mine were bigger....so the segment measured 5 3/4" not 6 3/4". Luckily my Facebook friends reminded me to check the seams when I posted a message asking if I stupid... LOL. I am here to announce I am. LOL. It took me at least an hour to find what I did wrong. So that entire set got scrapped and I started again. I made my 40 blocks still not thinking that wouldn't be enough to make her quilt until a few minutes ago. I actually need 130 blocks. Oh crap!!!!! In other words I still have a ton of sewing and cutting to do. Seriously some days I wonder where my brain is....

My daughter decided on turquoise and brown... the fabric in the middle has silver sparkles in it. She just LOVES it.



I don't think I ever showed those of you who follow me here and not Facebook the pillow I made. The sham is burlap and then I made a "sleeve" that you could take on and off. My friend Laurie asked if I decide to sell them would I think about making different sleeves for the different seasons to change them out. I thought that was an awesome idea!



I also forgot to show you what else I got at the thrift store yesterday. I think I'm going to try pouring wax in it and see how it comes out.



I also came across my fake treenware scoop I didn't show you that I got awhile back at the thrift store. $4.00!!!!! What a steal!!!!!



Last but not least a picture of the kitchen... I'm still not quite done... I need a different cushion for my chair because it's not quite tall enough for my son. lol. YES I still need to make my curtain for the bottom of my corner desk too.



Well, day 2 my daughter caught the right buses today. The boy I was talking about yesterday asked my daughter "out" this morning on the bus. I told her I thought it was a little early for that because she just met him. She said I know I wasn't expecting it either. She did say she told him that she had high morals and that she would be taking things very slowly with him and he said that was fine. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not worried because I am. I have yet to meet this boy. Better yet Steve has yet to meet this boy. The shear size of Steve would scare anyone if you didn't know him. Maybe I'll have Steve sit there and pretend he's cleaning a gun when the boy comes over. :) LOL. Hey wait I don't even own a gun! LOL. I think that Steve's size will be enough for now.

I am hoping to get a new printer soon so stayed tuned for some new smaller stitchery patterns. Have a great next few days. I work the next two days then have the weekend off. I'll talk to you then.

First Day of School

It is finally here!!! The best day after Christmas... of course. As you see in my title it's the first day back to school. Woot Woot!!!! No more "Mom I'm bored" or "there's nothing to do." Finally, the day has come where I wave to my kids as I see them ride the bus off into the distance and disappear for almost eight hours of the day. My alone time is now back and I can get things done and work on crafts all I want without feeling guilty. YYIIIPPPEEEE!!!!!

Our day went pretty well. We had a hiccup with the school transportation for my daughter and will figure out tomorrow how it will work. I got a phone call yesterday from the advisor asking if we had heard from the school system about the transportation. Well, by the time I got home from work and grocery shopping it was too late to call her back. I NEVER received a call and decided I would take my daughter to the high school to catch the shuttle to the career center. Well, I came home sat down with my hot steamy cup of coffee and sure enough a bus stops out in front of my house. I walk to the door unsure whether to open it up or not because I have my pajamas on. So, instead of hiding out in my ripped up 10 year old pajamas I grab my pink fluffy robe and go sprinting across the front yard where the bus driver stopped the bus. Long story short he was waiting on my daughter. By the time the bus pulled away all of my neighbors who were going to work got to see me in my pajamas. PRICELESS!!!! She will be picked up in front of my house and dropped off at the end of the day. One answer to prayer and a burden lifted from me. However, she rode the regular shuttle she had time to meet a boy........ REALLY?!?!?!? He too has Asperger's and she says they have a lot in common and he goes to church and is a senior in criminal justice. She said he opened the doors for her sat with her on the bus and asked if they could "hang out" this weekend. UGGGHHHH... He is also suppose to call her tonight sometime.... I am really not ready for this. Other than that my daughter had a smile from ear to ear when I picked her up after school. So far she REALLY likes it. :sigh: Another burden lifted.... she talked non stop all the way to the dentist which is 20 minutes away.... thank you to everyone who said a little prayer for her. I think I made a good decision going this route in school.

My son, well, he says he thinks he'll like is Math teacher, he's not in any classes with the girls he likes, or his best friend. That's it. He doesn't act excited at all. Maybe it's a boy thing. He was more excited to go to his hunter safety course tonight. He just texted me to be there by 9 to pick him up. He even changed clothes to go to this class. Two more nights after tonight and he can get his hunting license this year. Can't you tell I'm just thrilled... :/ NOT!!!!

Alright, so what did I do today on my first day to myself... well, I treated myself to a haircut and color first. On my way home I thought I'd check in at the Goodwill because I could. LOL. I found this great fabric... I know what you're thinking these are really ugly but I think I can blend them in some quilts.





I then came home and got busy... I scrubbed the bathroom top to bottom, vacuumed the upstairs with the exception of my kids rooms because well, I can't get in them right now. Then I came downstairs cleaned up the kitchen and vacuumed down here. It's amazing what I can get done without my kids being here. LOL.

Tomorrow I will be crafting since I got so much cleaning done today.

Weekend Funny...

Hope you are having a great weekend. I am at work, but take a look at this funny video. Steve showed me this. I just LOVE dogs and everytime I see this I laugh... Click the play button to see the video.

A Work in Progress

For those of you who remember I painted my bedroom walls sometime last year. Well, at the tail end of my vacation I was cleaning my basement again and found my yard sale goods. I then decided it was time to put stuff on the walls in my bedroom. For me, the bedroom is the most difficult to decorate. I can never decide what I want. I just don't get the "vision" like I do in many of my other rooms. I asked Steve to hang a little shelf on the wall and it all unraveled from there. Steve was pulling things out of the basement and hanging them for me because I couldn't decide. I then knew I better get my behind in gear and start decorating. So, this is as far as I've gotten on my bedroom.

The curtains on the corner were Goodwill finds. They are actually tab tops, but for now they tabs are just tucked in.



The curtains on the window were Goodwill finds too. They had the pom pom fringe on them. I also ended up not dying my curtains at all. I had thought I either wanted to coffee stain or RIT dye them. But I think it lightens it up in my room since that is my only window.









I'm thinking of hanging the wood box on the shelf under this stitchery... still not sure yet.



On the wall above this shelf I think I'm going to make a little log cabin quilt to hang in this spot. I also need to look and decide what I want on the shelf. Like I say this is a work in progress. And the candle holder down in the corner will be moved. lol








Other than that I am back at work at getting absolutely nothing done at home. Grrrr... why can't I win the lottery???? lol I have started a new stitchery from someone elses pattern this time. I also got a request from my friend Leslie to design smaller samplers that don't take as long to stitch. Along the lines of my free pattern. So I am going to start working on that. After my last pattern I had already thought of doing it she just said it out loud to get me moving on it. :)

Yesterday my daughter and I went for orientation at the Career Center. I think I am more afraid of her starting than she is. I admit I broke down and cried when we were in the intervention specialists office. I need to let go and let her find her own way, but it is difficult when you've advocated for her for so many years. We have a busing issue we are working on to make her and me feel a little better. We have 3 days and counting until she makes the first step towards a career and her independents from me if it is possible. We have a long road ahead of us, but she is taking life skills Math and English which is more geared to everyday situations instead of geometry and algebra and those types of classes. Come Monday I will be a nervous wreck until she comes home and says she did great.

Well, since this my only day off this week and I have a couple more things on my list do I better get cracking. Thanks for visiting and I'll talk to you soon.

Letha's Memory

My new pattern Letha's Memory is now available. Please email me to order. You can get it instantly by email for $7.00. If you would like it mailed it is $10.00 includes shipping.

You will receive a picture of the completed design, a color and symbol pattern, and a color key.

My New/Old Buttery and a Finish

Well, since I have crafted most of this week of my vacation I decided I had procrastinated long enough. Since moving my computer desk and buttery shelving into the kitchen I needed to reorganize and clean. I did an overhaul on my "pantry" a skinny little closet in my kitchen with make-do shelves. I threw out food that for who knows why I didn't use and had expired. Seriously, I was a food hoarder. Anyway, I moved things around and for now it fits (until I go grocery shopping again.) lol. Next, I cleaned out my fridge washed it out and threw out stuff in there. It looks like there is nothing left and we are going to starve. I threatened my kids that if they spilled something again they would be cleaning it out not me. This is my least favorite chore as you can tell. I have to ask Steve to move my stove out so I can clean the sides of it later tonight. I feel pretty good about my clean kitchen until I walk into my other rooms. I just keep telling myself I will be decorating for fall soon and not to go moving things around yet. But I don't think I'll be able to wait that long. lol.

So while I was on a roll in my kitchen I finished my buttery shelves....









SOLD I also finished up a project yesterday. This gorgeous table runner... I LOVE how it turned out. The colorful leaves on the black background look amazing. And yes FOR SALE $25.00 includes shipping. 13 in. X 42 in.





I have plenty of things to do as you can imagine. I am still pondering on my Giveaway so I'll let you know soon. Have a great day!

Thanks for visiting...

For Sale

I have a few fall items for sale so far...

Please click here to visit my selling blog The Gettysburg Mercantile...

Wednesday Already???

I simply can't believe it is Wednesday already. The good thing is I woke up this morning thinking I should've been at work today. Then I thought maybe they forgot to take me off the schedule... then I looked at my phone and I had a text message from work. UH oh.... But it was a page out for someone to cover my shift. SHEW!!! It wasn't a dream I'm actually on vacation. LOL

Speaking of my job...even though most times I complain about it it does have it's good parts. Yesterday, my kids and I went to the Great Lakes Science Center. I drove up to Cleveland myself and got us there. However, I missed the parking garage entrance and had to circle back around. LOL. Had it not been for my job I would have never had the confidence to do that before. We make frequent visits to the Cleveland Clinic, so I'm somewhat familiar with the major streets. My kids have decided they would never like to live in a large city. Both of their anxiety levels were through the roof. Once we got on the road for home they both relaxed and we enjoyed the rest of the day. Steve couldn't come because his Mom had surgery yesterday and he went to the hospital to be with her and his Dad.

OK let's see what I can cross of my list so far this 3rd day of vacation.

Remember these baby gates?



This is my newest trash to treasure... use them as drying racks to cover my window in the kitchen. I'm still not done decorating them yet, or for that matter, the whole buttery... LOL



I also went to the Goodwill on Monday. I had other errands so I though since I was out I'd just stop by and look. OK I had a mission to find a frame for my stitchery. Steve was suppose to make one, but he's been busy and I am very impatient... I know me impatient??? NO say it isn't so...LOL. So I took the stitchery with me to check. Luck was on my side... I found this on the Last Chance table. Everything is $.50. Thank you Home Interiors for this really ugly picture cuz the frame is big enough for me to use elsewhere... lol.



Framed... I may have to put no glare glass in this one at a later date.



Where it went... I've been waiting to put it here for months... It finished that space.



I finished up these runner/decorative cupboard door hangers, whatever else you could use them for last night. LOL. They are backed with a plain green fabric so you don't see the seam or raw edges. They will be for sale if anyone is interested $12 includes shipping. Let me also clarify the black stockings in my last post too... they do include shipping in the price in the U.S. I had to get shipping on a pair for someone that lives over seas because it was way more expensive to ship. :)



Yes, I have done a few other things, but I can't show you yet. LOL. I found some cream colored tab top curtains at Goodwill a few weeks back. Well, I finally got around to washing them and I hung them on the top corners of my canopy bed in my room. My bedroom is a mess so I'm not showing you that yet. I am hoping that by the end of the week it will be cleaned and I will show you some updates. :D I've done laundry tried to clean off my dining table, but I just pulled stuff right back out to craft with. LOL.

Today, I need to gather up some fall items I'm going to have for sale. I will give you all a heads up when I post pictures on here of the items. I also have another project to do first though. It just won't get out of my head until I make it. LOL. I need to get going read some blogs while I finish my second cup of coffee to get my day started right. Talk to you soon!

Vacation Week

Alright friends I am officially on vacation! We are not going anywhere except for the Great Lakes Science Center tomorrow I think. My daughter asked if we could and heck both the kids may learn something over the summer. If you go on a Tuesday one of the kids can get in free. So, I'm all about saving money. Other than that I'd like to stay home and clean and craft. Hopefully more of the crafting than cleaning. LOL. However I don't think that is going to happen because I created a huge mess for myself while putting my buttery together.

Speaking of buttery...I'll show you preliminary decorating. It's preliminary because I still have a tote of kitchen stuff in the basement to bring up. I used what I had already removed from the kitchen and sat on my dining room table. For the past 3 days my house has been torn apart because I was working and when I got home I was too tired to do anything.

First, my new step back computer desk. I plan on making my curtain for the bottom this week. I will soon be talking with you from this desk. Soon because my stupid computer,that I just had fixed, decided to tell me my Windows Vista was not a registered copy so I don't have an operating system. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr....



Where the crocks are my printer will be going. Steve decorated for me and put those there and the jars up top. So very preliminary. LOL.



I just thought about it and I did do something these past three days. Friday night is when we put the desk and shelves in the kitchen. My shelves stayed bare until last night. I think it's going to look awesome when I'm done. I hate the jail cell window look behind it. I am working on that problem. I will be covering it up soon.





When I went back to get my shelves from the antique shop it was the first day of the Old Lincolnway yardsale day. So I got two new things. This carrier, which I know you put those little wood quart things in, was too cute for $3.00



Of course then I got another basket. I know it looks like the ones I've been getting at the Goodwill, but I really like them.



Other than that I was very good. I stopped and looked but nothing jumped out. Maybe it's because I know I have way too much stuff anyway. I'm going to have to clean out once again. In all the moving around of my kitchen I have lost precious cupboard space. So I will be going through my kitchen rearranging and pulling out things I don't use. One of the biggest kitchen cupboard space I lost was this...



This was in the corner and was our snack, bread, chips, and cereal cupboard. As you can tell I haven't decorated this yet either. Steve put the huge basket on top. LOL. I took out one of shelves for now. I really like it there BUT it blocks half of the only window I have in my living room. I guess I'll try it for awhile and see if I like it. My house faces north so I won't get any sun to fade out the cabinet.

Oh yeah, I am also making black stockings and coffee stained muslin stockings for fall and winter... I quick threw these together this past Thursday. I had enough fabric for two pair. I believe one is already sold (have to go to the post office to figure shipping) but I have one more pair just like these. $10 includes shipping.



I also see that I am at 400 followers!!!! WOOHOO!!!! Thanks everyone. As promised I will be hosting another Giveaway. Give me a day or so to decide what I will be giving away and I'll let you know.

Not Much Going On

Hello everyone! I'm going to be honest and tell you have haven't gotten much done in the way of crafting since we last spoke. Many of the things I've gotten done are things that have been nagging at me for quite awhile. The one day I was looking for some directions for my son's remote control and couldn't find them. In the process, I tried to open a drawer in one of my cupboard's and found I couldn't open it because the crap inside the drawer caught and jammed the drawer. In this drawer I keep my old bank statements and bills and that sort of thing. My son asked me what all that stuff was and I remarked how it was stuff I needed to shred and just haven't gotten around to it. He told me he loved to shred stuff so right then and there I stopped my treasure hunt for the directions and began organizing. I cleaned that drawer and moved onto my fabric scraps. I have no idea what got into me! LOL. I reorganized and pressed all my scrap fabrics. I am even getting rid of some scraps. No, no, I'm not throwing them away. That's silly throwing away fabric. lol. I'm hoping to make a pillow or something and stuffing it with my scraps.

I can show you some progress I am making on my buttery too. I know I've been talking about it forever. I finally got Steve busy. Sheeeesh!!! I can't say anything he's been working a lot lately. When you are a subcontractor you work when you have work. Anyway, I can't move it upstairs yet because we need to rerun the computer cable to reach the new location of my computer. I was going for the step back cupboard look even though it's going to be a corner cabinet. I still need to make a coffee stained curtain for the bottom part. I just LOVE it!



I know it's hard to see, but Steve even painted the parts that we had to use new wood on to match the old boards. The inside of both upper and lower were new wood.



I also found another piece for my buttery two days ago. While I was at work my partner and I decided to take a different way back to the shop because I wanted a smoothie from McDonalds. Well, my stupid craving also led me to an antique shop I never knew was there. It is only 20 minutes from my house. How could I not know about this wonderful place??? It is very small and they have a few things but I found exactly what I wanted AND it was only $25. It is two pieces so very flexible in using it other places if I want. I couldn't fit it in the ambulance and we figured chances are we'd get a call and have this baby in the back. lol. So I must go back and pick it up today. I hope it fits in my truck :/ BUT if it doesn't oh well because it is on old route 30 and today starts the worlds longest yard sale on route 30. So I will just have to look and see while I'm out. As I type my sister just called me and she has a minivan so she said she'd come with me to pick it up! yiippee!!!!



One of these will be used in my buttery too. These were a trash pick so they were FREE!!!!!! I thought at first, at 6am when I picked them, they were the sides to a crib but they aren't. They are part of baby gate from a porch. I'm so excited to start on my kitchen!!!! No I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing iwth them yet. lol



I also bought these at the antique shop when I got my shelves. Also for my kitchen.



I also finished my next candle mat at work. I think I will put it and the green one in the booth to sell.



I found some things I don't think I showed you that I've acquired on my thrift store shopping trips.

You know I'm a cross stitch fanatic. I've scene this exact pattern in some of my decorating books and magazines I have. It is stitched on linen. I'm sure it was a popular kit back a few years ago.



No explanation needed... lol



I got these 2 bolts of linen like material at the flea market for $3.00 a piece. I have some awesome ideas for this! It's dirty so I need to see if there is washing instructions on it. I know I'm going to regret it because it'll wrinkle and shrink like crazy. hmmmm.... what if I just hand washed it...



I can't remember if I showed you this. If I did I apologize. This is heavy upholstery fabric I also got at the flea market. LOVE it!!!!! I know you are wondering what I'm going to make out of it. Guess what??? I don't know. LOL. Maybe a couple pillows. We'll see !!!! OR another smaller make do chair????



This is not cross stitch but I believe yarn on canvas. Anyway, I liked the pattern. I call it my tree of life. I also like the fact it is smaller and I can put it in my small displays.



Today is my only day off so I need to get busy. I'd like to start some fall things. I won't be doing too many fall items because I'm starting a little late, but I'm going to start Christmas soon. Sheesh... I hate being behind. lol But if you are in the market for runners, towels, or candle mats for fall keep checking back... OH and I'm going to attempt something else that I'm so excited about... see you soon ;)

One more thing... I am 2 away from reaching 400 followers... 2 more and it's time for a Giveaway!!!!